Sunday, March 3, 2013

Mystery Case...

Sometime
last year, on one of my trips to Bungalow 47, I picked up a wooden case.
In my mind I call it a wooden suitcase. But it doesn't match up with
any images online for wooden suitcases. Not even close. A major difference would be the latch system. This case just has two tiny
hooks - one on each side - that keep it closed. A fairly inefficient closing mechanism compared to the "real" suitcases. Not exactly the kind of suitcase
you would leave with a porter to go into the luggage car on the train.
It also doesn't match up with any images for wooden cases, wooden sales
cases, wooden brief cases, or anything else I can think of.

So what I have decided is that some practical farmer (or whatever) either didn't have access to suitcases or didn't want to spend the money for one and decided to make it. He did a good job. This thing is pretty dang sturdy.

I don't have any idea how old it is. The leather handles are pretty cracked and crumbly, but not in any danger of crumbling apart.

I have visions of a family sending their son off to school at Michigan State. Or their daughter packing the case to move into Detroit to work at Hudson's Department Store, or in a secretarial pool at Ford Motor Company. Or it could have been made for somebody's daughter to store her doll clothes in. Who knows? I probably just have an overactive imagination.

But it certainly does look like it might have rumbled around in the back of an old pick-up truck or two.

I wanted to clean it up a bit. And and I wanted to paint it. And I wanted to try out some Miss Mustard Seed Milk Paint. So I mixed up some Kitchen Scale and painted it. (I get my MMS Milk Paint from Lorraine at Miss Flibbertgibbet)

That was two, three, four months ago. Then I put it aside to decide what I wanted to do next. Then it was Thanksgiving. Then it was Christmas, then New Years, then Basement Cleaning, then Valentines Day, then finally President's Day, and here I was with my painted unfinished box sitting in the corner. Poor thing. Poor neglected, lonely, wooden suitcase...

Finally, in my "it's not spring yet" malaise I spent some of my lazy time over at the Graphics Fairy looking for some lovely thing to enhance my sad, neglected wooden suitcase. Finally I found some pretty little images of fancy vintage scissors here and here.

I printed out 5 of each of them and had lazer copies made so that I could use a reverse decoupage method to apply them to the box.

Isn't it lovely? No more sad, lonely, neglected wooden suitcase.

Now that the suitcase feeling better about itself, I will tell you a little bit about my MMS Milk Paint experience.

The paint went on well. I used one good coat of paint. There was very little crackling and pulling back of paint. There were a few places on the front and back of the suitcase that I rubbed away some flakes. I think that I had hoped that there would be more places where the paint pealed away. Most of the case looked like the picture below. I think that it took the paint really well because the wood was so dried out.

Then it sat for however many months. Then I put on the decorative pieces. When you use reverse decoupage you are basically decoupaging the piece upside down. Then you use a wet washcloth and wet fingertips to remove the paper from the image that is stuck to the object you are decoupaging. So between sitting for several months without being sealed, the water, and the rubbing the surface of the suitcase, a LOT more of the paint came off. (there is a really good tutorial for it here) It is actually much more like I thought it would end up and more like I wanted it to be.

I finished it off with CeCe Caldwell clear wax and Light Antiquing Wax
over the whole piece. I believe if I had used the wax before I
decoupaged the piece that the paint would have stayed on better. I think
it would look a little better if I had done it that way, but I'm really
not disappointed in how it turned out. I haven't had the opportunity to try out MMS wax or Hemp Oil yet. I think that this would have been a great time to use the Hemp Oil. Even with several coats of wax the box still feels pretty thirsty.

For now I will use it to store some of my vast supply of magazines. I have plans for it when I redo the office later this year. But that is MANY projects down the road for me.

Make something wonderful today!

Karen

p.s. If you have any ideas about what this might have been other that a homemade suitcase, let me know!

What an interesting little box... case or what have you. Maybe it wasn't a suit case at all...but a salesmans sample carrier! Similar to what you've done with it... for carrying smaller versions of items for sale!that little machine is darling. i love what you've done with it...and your color of choice, of course. Pat

I've seen lots of boxes but never one like that, (I'm a senior crafter). Just looks like somebody did make it for their own purposes, it's awesome tho. I was thinking it would be great if you lined it with some great vintage fabric to really set if off. Love things like that. Will be interesting to see if somebody comes up with better idea of what it is. Love color and wax you used on it. Great job, glad you shared. It's good to hold onto something until the right idea pops in your head. Worth waiting for. Happy week, enjoy your blog

I adore how the case turned out with the milk paint and the decoupage -- both really fit the character of the piece. I agree with another commenter that it may have been a sample case for a salesman, and it probably would have bounced around a lot in the back of an old pickup!

What a great old case! Who knows what it was for....traveling salesman maybe? I love how you repurposed it though! You did that in your new, great, basement workshop I bet...which is all organized and cute looking....huh?

I am in agreement with the above - I think it might have been some kind of sample case. The scissors were a great graphic to choose. I like the way the paint came off. I usually seal with a satin craft varnish before reverse transfers. The green color is lovely.

It looks like a suitcase to me. The milk paint came out great too. Don't you love the reverse decoupage method? It makes me feel like a real artist. It's my favorite transfer method. Whatever your little case is, it's a treasure.

It turned out so pretty and I love the green and the graphics you chose. It probably did stick better because it was so dry. Teak oil is wonderful for furniture that is really dry. Thanks so much for joining us at Transformed Tuesday.

LinkWithin

Connect with Karen all over the place!

Don't miss out on any little quirky thing! Subscribe via email

About Me

This blog is about stuff I make, stuff I paint, stuff I do, and cake. I like cake. I've pretty much been a maker of stuff all my life. I often wonder if any of the prized, hand-crafted, gifts I gave my friends while I was growing up still exist. Maybe in a museum somewhere? If only I'd had a blog back then...

Hang with me on Pinterest

Blog Archive

Amazon Affiliate Disclosure

Karen Heath is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.